But what about these new developments? Well, for me at least, it all began on Sunday December 5, when along with Greg Bishop, Adam Gorightly, Andy Colvin and several other friends and Forteans I headed out to Giant Rock, California (which, as some of you may know, is a legendary locale in UFO Contactee lore), where I photographed this spray-painted image (below) that was tucked away on a rock-face opposite Giant Rock.

And, Andy Colvin, of course, is the author of the acclaimed series of Mothman's Photographerbooks on what many might say is the US equivalent of the Owlman - namely, Mothman. An odd coincidence. But this was only the start of things.

Three days later, the CFZ's North American Membership Secretary Naomi West (pictured) wrote the following at her All This Puddingblog:

"As with every Christmas season, I have been receiving books I've requested. As with every day of the year, I'm already behind on books I have been intending to read. I'm currently undertaking everything Orson Scott Card has ever written, but because I'm kind of a slow reader due to some degree of attention deficit, that will likely take me a couple years.

"Two weeks ago, I was concentrating my energies on Ender in Exile. Richie had just bought OSC's latest (Pathfinder), so that was next on my list, followed by Anne Rice's latest angel book. That would take up the next three months for sure, and that's not including my plans to continue reading The Ender series with my uncle.

"Suddenly, for no reason I can identify, I dropped everything and began reading The Owlman and Others by my friend Jonathan Downes. Why in the world I chose now, halting my already ambitious reading plans, to pick up this book that had been in my possession for two years is mysterious to me, but why I would choose the Christmas season to immerse myself in the part of cryptozoology that deals with the more sinister side of the unknown is even stranger. (The Owlman is the British version of the Mothman.)

"Richie and I are presently at my mom's for the Christmas holidays. Two days ago (and two weeks into my Owlman book) we received a phone call from MUFON (Mutual UFO Network) for whom we are field investigators. This was an unusual case they were assigning us to: an apparent man-bird sighting in San Antonio. MUFON does not typically address cryptid sightings, but a lady who, with her husband and son, had seen a giant man-bird flying over her neighborhood back in April had just decided to report it to MUFON.

"I find it nothing short of bizarre that the report this of sighting -- the first of its type that has ever come my way -- would occur the very time I had chosen, for no known reason, to read a book on this very thing. I cannot believe this is coincidence. As George Noory says, there is no such thing."

As for the report that Naomi and her husband Richie received, here it is:

"I was talking on my cell at the end of my sidewalk by the street when I turned around facing my house and saw this huge black man bird thing gliding without a noise coming from the east maybe the distance would be like three streets over but about maybe five blocks down.[which three streets over there isn't five blocks because the woods are two blocks down.

"When I saw this I was stunned and stared at it trying to figure out what it was and then I saw it wasn't anything Ive ever seen. I ran into the house and yelled at my husband and my grown son to get out here quick. They came but seemed like forever and they looked and saw it too. When they saw it they thing was like the a few streets over and then disappeared behind the big trees. When we saw it we all said that no one would believe us; but I have recently been talking about it because it has bothered me so much.

"I lived in this neighborhood all my life and I can remember of three UFO sightings since I was five and all the sightings were in this neighborhood or around Stinson Field airport. I never came forward about them because people think ya lost your ever loving mind until recently when others Ive spoke with shared their experiences.

"I have other stories but this one is the most recent and I was wondering if anyone has ever seen this thing. It is silent like it was a glider but I could see the body was exactly like a man a very large man. Thank you for listening to me and I hope you don't think we have gone mad too. I called my daughter and told her afterwards and that's what made my mind up to stay silent. I had my darn cell on my the whole time and not once thought of taking a picture it happened so fast and I'm not that savvy on the cell."

The location is interesting, as San Antonio is the home of Ken Gerhard, author of the excellent book, Big Bird! which deals with sightings of anomalous, winged monsters in the United States and elsewhere. It so happens that the foreword to Ken's book was written by Jon Downes - author of the definitive book on the Owlman - The Owlman and Others.

But, still the weirdness is not over...

On December 24, at his Luminosity blog, Dan Mitchell posted his very own, and highly Fortean, story of the owl kind (here's the link).

And only three days after that, at her Animal Forteana blog, Regan Lee wrote this article, that I urge you to check out, and that also mentions the Owlman.

What all of this means, I have no idea. You may say I'm simply picking up on threads that have no connection to each other, beyond the limited brief time-frame in which all of the above data surfaced. But, I have learned over the years that life is not quite as simple as that, and where synchonicities occur, there's usually a reason involved.

The trick is to understand what all of these synchronicities of the Owl and Owlman kind mean. I suggest that, for right now at least, we continue to scan the Net for further developments, and the skies for further marauding Owlmen...

Tuesday, December 28, 2010

Here's Bob and Mike from Bigfoot Quest to tell you about tonight's show. Looks like a good one!

Hello Everyone:

Please join your hosts Bob Coyne and Mike Killen as we welcome the researchers of NESRA, the North East Sasquatch Researchers Association, back to the show once again. Our guests will tell us about their experiences during their most recent expedition in the mountains of the Adirondack Park in upstate NY. Team NESRA had some luck on this latest expedition as one team member had a brief sighting of "an upright figure" through his Gen 2 night vision goggles while conducting a night op with two other team members approx one mile out from base camp. In addition to this "soft wood taps" were heard close to the night observation post before the sighting took place. This is sure to be an interesting and entertaining show you won't want to miss! If you can, please join us in our live show chat. It's always a lot of fun and we love to interact live with our listeners.

Monday, December 27, 2010

Micah Hanks reviews Mark A. Hall's and Loren Coleman's latest book, True Giants, and says, in part: "...Coleman and Hall set forth with academic eloquence, and void of flamboyance and sensationalism so characterized within this field, have managed to present a highly unique study, providing a window through which we might observe life on this planet that, despite their tremendous size, we somehow have managed to overlook." Here's the link to Micah's complete review.

Well, it's not quite the real X-Files, but some might argue it's pretty close! Check out the British Admiralty files on sightings of sea-serpents, as detailed in my latest Lair of the Beasts column at Mania.com.

Wednesday, December 22, 2010

England's Stafford Post newspaper notes its Top 10 paranormal stories from the county of Staffordshire, which includes (A) the Man-Monkey of Ranton; (B) a mysterious Gorilla-like entity; (C) a werewolf; and (D) a strange, old tale from Chartley Castle where (as my Man-Monkey book reveals) a hairy man-beast was seen in 1986...

Tuesday, December 21, 2010

It is with great sadness that I am making you aware, that my longtime friend and research associate, George E. Lutz, 89, passed away on December 18, 2010. George and I began to investigate UFOs, Bigfoot, and other strange incidents here in Pennsylvania during the early 1970’s. He was an avid outdoors man, hunter and fisherman. Lutz was also a former Air Force pilot, and retired as a major in the Air Force Reserves.

George was a kind and friendly person, and we became very close friends during the many years that we spent together. We spent many days and nights searching for evidence of the strange occurrences that were constantly coming to our attention. His experience and background gave credibility and understanding into the many strange incidents which we investigated together. Lutz was a member of the investigation team that responded to the classic October 25, 1973, UFO-Bigfoot incident outside of Uniontown in Fayette County. I will miss George immensely.

The viewing for George E. Lutz, will be on Wednesday at the James E. Lindsay Funeral Home, 3343 Route 130, Harrison City, from 9-11 am. The funeral services are scheduled the same day at 11 am. Interment will take place at the Twin Valley Memorial Park in Delmont. Donations are requested to the Westmoreland County Food Bank.

Monday, December 20, 2010

As you'll probably have seen, I haven't been posting here for the past week. Nope, no visits from the Men in Black! Just work stuff and deadlines getting in the way! Anyway, the madness has died down a bit, so here's a few things that crossed my path this last week and that you may find interesting:

Tuesday, December 14, 2010

Please join your hosts Bob Coyne and Mike Killen as we welcome WASRT researchers Steve "Mojo" Wilkins and Steve "Too Risky" Schauer to the show. Steve and Steve founded the WASRT (Washington Sasquatch Research Team) in 2009 and they conduct their research in the vicinity of Mt Rainier. The WASRT is "dedicated to identifying and preserving this species in the wild, protecting them on the State and National level against harm, harassment, capture and killing without any lands being taken from the public". Using various baiting methods they hope to entice one or more creatures in close enough to someday obtain "multiple sources of video footage that will stand up to the utmost scrutiny". If you're able, please join us in our show chat room. It's always a lot of fun and we love to interact live with our listeners.

BoA:Audio tears at the fabric of the Bigfoot enigma with acclaimed researcher Gian Quasar, author of the sure-to-be-controversial Recasting Bigfoot: Uncovering the Truth about Sasquatch Amidst the Hype of Bigfoot. In this, his first-ever interview on the new book, Gian details his remarkable thesis which suggests that the current conception of the North American Bigfoot is fundamentally wrong, that the many creatures called 'Bigfoot' around the world are really a variety of undiscovered bipedal primates, and that, amidst all that, Neanderthal / feral humans are also lurking and adding to the Sasquatch mythos. Gian will take us, step by step, through the process by which 'Bigfoot' was created in contemporary folklore, blowing up the popular vision of the creature and replacing it with an altogether different, yet still quite enigmatic, series of beasts.

Along the way, we'll talk about Native American legends of Sasquatch, the early years of Bigfoot research, the Patterson film, the antics of Ray Wallace, and creatures such as the Loysi, the Almas, the Abominable Snowman, the Skookum, the tale of 'wild woman' Zana, and the Russian studies of their mysterious creatures. Plus, of course, tons more.

It's a mind-blowing edition of the program that constitutes a must-hear episode for anyone even remotely interested in the Sasquatch phenomenon as Gian Quasar joins us to share his challenging, enlightening, and fearless research.

Have you been following the story of the Puerto Rican Gargoyle? If not, here's the latest news - story 1 and story 2.

Notably, on a couple of my expeditions to Puerto Rico in search of the Chupacabras, I have come across a few stories of winged-beasts that sound far more like Gargoyles, and far less like the Chupacabras.

One such case, that I investigated in 2004, came from a woman named Norka, who me and Jon Downes interviewed while we were on the island. Here's what I wrote about Norka's sighting in my book Memoirs of a Monster Hunter:

"...Although the exact date escaped her, Norka told us that she was driving home one night in 1975 or 1976, when she was both startled and horrified by the shocking sight of a bizarre creature shambling across the road. She described the animal as being approximately four feet in height, and having a monkey-like body that was covered in dark brown hair or fur, wings that were a cross between those of a bat and a bird, and glowing eyes that bulged alarmingly from a bat-style visage. Elongated fingers, with sharp, claw-like appendages, that looked like they could inflict serious damage, flicked ominously in Norka’s direction. She could only sit and stare as the beast then turned its back on her and rose slowly into the sky..."

Did Norka not actually see a Chupacabras - as she had assumed when me and Jon spoke with her - but, instead, a Gargoyle-style entity? I really don't know, but I do know for sure that there is distinct high-strangeness afoot on Puerto Rico...

Wednesday, December 8, 2010

Paranormal News has posted a new review of my latest book, The NASA Conspiracies.

You may wonder, why am I mentioning a book about NASA at my Cryptozoology blog? Well...a clue can be found in the extract below from the PN review:

"With all of the conspiracy books cropping up year after year, it’s nice to read one that contains non-regurgitated material. Thankfully, The NASA Conspiracies by Nick Redfern seems both up to date as well as unique in its own ways. Sometimes citing cases that remind one of John Keel, (Bigfoot with a tracking device recovered by NASA, anyone?) this book is a welcomed addition to both the serious conspiracy researcher and enthusiast alike."

Fed up of 'Most Haunted' ? Tired of dull movies such as 'Paranormal Activity' ? Then join monster-hunter extraordinaire, Neil Arnold on his all new monthly ghost-walks. On the last Sunday of every month, 7.30pm, Neil will be conducting walks through historic Rochester, bringing back the atmosphere of Charles' Dickens musings, with a tour of the cobbled streets, dank back alleys and ancient buildings.

From haunted shops, restaurants and pubs, to the Gothic cathedral and eerie monk's vineyard, Neil will entertain with ghastly yarns of witches, ghosts, monsters and murder, introducing the public to a variety of spine-chilling and original spook tales. Hags, hellhounds, river monsters, big cats and spectres are on the menu and at just £4.00 a head this could be the best money you've spent for a long while.

On the second Sunday of every month (2 - 4 pm) Neil will be venturing onto Britain's most haunted location, Blue Bell Hill, with bizarre stories concerning eight-foot high red-eyed humanoids, giant phantom dogs, flying jellyfish, sinister hags, big cats, ancient stones and the local 'phantom hitchhiker', proving that the legends you've heard about which are connected to the hill are completely false and that the truth is far stranger than the fiction created by the media.

Do giant primates larger than gorillas, taller than Sasquatch and Yetis, still exist in the remotest corners of the globe? Famed cryptozoologists Mark A. Hall and Loren Coleman join forces to share their knowledge of this unexplored and neglected topic in cryptozoology.

Bigfoot researchers have long been mystified, even embarrassed, by reports of giant hairy apes larger than Bigfoot, and as a result eyewitness reports of what Hall and Coleman call True Giants have never been fully considered in the broader zoological context. Reviewing the evidence found in traditions and footprints, folklore and sightings, the authors of this groundbreaking volume present for the first time in one place the wide-ranging argument for the possible survival of a giant species of primate that we know lived on Earth for millions of years.

Contents

Preface: The Story Behind the Cover Being the frightening encounter of one Captain Mokhtar Mohamad and his wife with an Orang Dalam, a True Giant. Introduction New evidence that humans were not alone. Cryptozoologists as folklorists. A modest attempt to capture the myths, legend, and folklore of the True Giants.

1. The Universal GiantTales of storybook giants are global. A broader basis in the natural world for True Giants. The reasons for the lack of investigations and ignorance of their existence. Survival of Gigantopithecus in an era of Homo ﬂoresiensis and other new homin discoveries. Mountains around the world as homes of the True Giants. Their general physical description.

2. The Earliest True Giant was Gigantopithecus Four categories of evidence: traditions, consistent appearance, footprints, and fossil remains. Gigantopithecus vs. Gigantanthropus. Finding Giganthopithecus. The heights of the Giganthopithecus and True Giants. More about their tracks. The migration issue. Conﬂict with humans. Schism between the species. Cannibalism. Remoteness.

10. The Giants in the American West Larger than Bigfoot, Sasquatch and the Neo-Giants. Sidney Warren’s 1857 Oregon account. Idaho’s 1902 report. Lake Okanagan’s Big Men of the Mountains. Alaska’s Gilyuk. British Columbia’s Tsufa. Takudh Kutchin Indians’ Mahoni or Nahoni. Kaska’s Big Man or Tenatco. California’s Marukarara. Modern accounts of True Giants in the West. Finding of enormous foot tracks.

11. The World of True Giants Structure of the True Giants. Communication skills. Mobility. Dangers to True Giants. How they have changed. Lifestyle. Eating habits. Habitations.

12. The Future of True GiantsWhat can we do about True Giants? George Papashvily. The Narts. Yel’tso. Other traditions. Ethno-known.

Acknowledgments Appendix A: Telebiology How to study giant primates without harming them? Appendix B: What Scientiﬁc Name For True Giants? Good questions have complex answers. Appendix C: Giant Bones Where are the bones? Where are the skeletons? Where are the skulls? Are there any easy answers? Appendix D: Giant Skulls by Ivan SandersonWhat did the late cryptozoologist have to say on the question of giant skulls?Appendix E: The Toonijuk by Ivan Sanderson What do the Inuits and Eskimos know about True Giants? Appendix F: The Teeth of the Dragon by Eric Pettifor What is the standard anthropological view of Gigantopithecus? Appendix G: Meganthropus: Giant Man From Old Java Besides Gigantopithecus, there exists in the fossils of Asia, another primate that has been problematic for paleoanthropologists. Might this species be True Giants? Sources About the Authors

As The Real Men in Black demonstrates, Mothman, the Loch Ness Monster, the Chupacabra, and perhaps even the legendary "Thunderbird Photograph" have attracted the attention of the MIB.

And, in a real scoop, I detail in my book the very creepy MIB encounter of legendary cryptozoologist, Loren Coleman himself...

THERE'S SOMETHING IN THE WOODS: A Transatlantic Hunt for Monsters and the Mysterious

Contains the latest news on Bigfoot, Werewolves, The Thunderbird, Devil-Dogs, Big-Cats, and much more. For all the details, including purchase-information, click on the book-cover image above, or check out: http://www.anomalistbooks.com/redfern2.html

MONSTERS OF TEXAS

NOW AVAILABLE (Click on the book-cover for more information)

MAN-MONKEY: In Search Of The British Bigfoot

"This book is an important contribution to the annals of furry, upright creature lore and belongs on the shelf of anyone interested in unidentified animals," Linda Godfrey, author of "The Beast of Bray Road" and "Hunting the American Werewolf."

MEMOIRS OF A MONSTER HUNTER: A Five-Year Journey In Search Of The Unknown

"This is one of the best books I've read in years," Joshua P. Warren, author of "Pet Ghosts" and "How to Hunt Ghosts."

CONFESSIONS OF A MONSTER HUNTER

I am the author of many books, including "A Covert Agenda;" "The FBI Files;" "Cosmic Crashes;" "Strange Secrets (with Andy Roberts);" "Three Men Seeking Monsters;" "Body Snatchers in the Desert;" "On the Trail of the Saucer Spies;" "Celebrity Secrets;" "Man-Monkey;" "Memoirs of a Monster Hunter;" "There's Something in the Woods;" "Science Fiction Secrets;" "Contactees;" "Monsters of Texas" (with Ken Gerhard); "Final Events;" "The NASA Conspiracies;" "Space Girl Dead on Spaghetti Junction;" "The Real Men in Black" and "Keep Out!"
Proudest achievement: knowing all the lyrics to every one of the songs recorded by The Macc Lads.
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